Don't forget about mobygames for research purposes. It has a pretty neat game browser.

— "Mystery is important. To know everything, to know the whole truth, is dull. There is no magic in that. Magic is not knowing, magic is wondering about what and how and where." ~ Cortez, from The Longest Journey

Originally Posted by GhanBuriGhan
Question was it really freee movement 3D (as in DF) or tile/step based movement. And what was the combat like? Might help narrowing it down a bit more.

Tile movement. I don't remember combat directly though. There might have been cheap "whooshing" sound effects to indicate action, but I could easily be splicing in stuff from other games. It was also using 2d sprites even when on the 3d map. I remember this because I got lost at one point and came across the same giant blue beetle corpse repeatedly from different directions and it always looked the same.

Originally Posted by Wonko the sane
Edit: daggerfall wasn't one tile at time?

No, Daggerfall is full 3D with free character movement (creatures and NPC are sprites though, not yet 3D objects).

I looked around a bit more yesterday, but I couldn't find a lead. Your story about giant bugs reminded me of Entomorph: Plague of the darkfall which I played long ago, but that was all 2D isometric, and there was no real world beginning like you describe. The earlier Thunderscape from the same series (which I haven't played) featured a 3D first person viewpoint, but I don't think it fits either.

Seems it really was a very obscure title - let us know if you find out.

Pretty much a given to let you guys know. And you've all given me some more resources and places to look. Though I am afraid that my only real option will be to actually buy the disc and hope my memory wasn't wrong.

Alright, slight update: I contacted the CRPGaddict with all the details (even the ones you lot helped me tease out. Kudos by the way!) and I have been downloading disc images from the Shareware CD archive on the internet archive. Hoping for a lucky hit.

I should also mention that I have about as much luck as… something very, very unlucky. I don't even know. Most of the discs didn't work, even when using compatibility mode. This is because some of them were strictly DOS, which is fine because it is a windows game. I remember the shareware disc interface being very much graphic and using the mouse.

Originally Posted by Wonko the sane
Thank you for linking it Ghan. I didn't even think to do that.

I should also mention that I have about as much luck as… something very, very unlucky. I don't even know. Most of the discs didn't work, even when using compatibility mode. This is because some of them were strictly DOS, which is fine because it is a windows game. I remember the shareware disc interface being very much graphic and using the mouse.

Do you know how to use Dosbox? In case you want to play other old games that program will be your best friend. I can give you the basics if you're interested.

Also, many old windows programs might prove tricky to run in straight up Win7/Vista/8, but there are ways around it. One is to set up a virtual machine, and the other is to simply install an OS in Dosbox (I've in the past installed Win 3.11 in it).

Originally Posted by Fnord
Do you know how to use Dosbox? In case you want to play other old games that program will be your best friend. I can give you the basics if you're interested.

Also, many old windows programs might prove tricky to run in straight up Win7/Vista/8, but there are ways around it. One is to set up a virtual machine, and the other is to simply install an OS in Dosbox (I've in the past installed Win 3.11 in it).

Actually, I very much remember it being done in windows, and the windows disks all ran well once I set the exe's to compatibility mode. I've used dosbox before, but thank you kindly for the offer, it shouldn't be an issue.

Worse comes to worse: my brothers fiancee has a laptop running windows XP. It'll run there or I'm a simians mothers brother.

Alright, I broke down and bought one off amazon. Even with the exchange rate and the redirect on shipping to actually get it to my home country, (Turns out no one likes to ship to canada. Who woulda guessed?) It'll still run about 10 bucks. Which is reasonable for a disc. Besides, there might be a ton of other games on there worth looking up while I'm at it.

It'll take about three weeks all told. Let you guys know more when I do.

Originally Posted by Frozen Fireball
I meant it blew my mind and yes, it sure is impressive.
I once had a plan to do the same thing that CRPG addict is doing, but that list shows what a stupid goal I had. I mean some of those games are so obscure and awkward it looks like they come from another dimension.

I'm doing something similar, but only playing or replaying select games. Took me two years to get from 1985 to 1993, and I'm currently playing Dark Sun: Shattered Land.
Many of the old games are still as fun as they were back then, some I like even better now (Dragon Wars and Black Crypt), some have aged poorly IMO (Bard's Tale and Eye of the Beholder games), while I have discovered some old gems like The Magic Candle and Dark Heart of Uukrul.
But had the Kickstarted fad happened 2-3 years earlier I would probably not have undertaken this project. Looks like there will be lots of good, DRM free CRPGs in 2013!